[quote="Simon of the Playa"][quote]I think you're right, exclusive access times are not the way to go. Our fundraising plan already includes a private off-playa party at the build space for donors, private dinners with the team, and a variety of swag. The only on-playa perks are a champagne reception one night at the artwork, a dinner with the team in camp, and a personal tour of the installation with the inventor. There is also the ability to define one of the puzzles (it's a large interactive puzzle) although that is done off-playa and videotaped for the donor in case they can't attend.[/quote]

im not sure whether to laugh or to cry....[/quote]

OK, maybe I wasn't clear enough about this - my bad. The champagne reception and celebratory dinner on burn night are actually Team events, but I decided to open them up to larger donors as a perk. They weren't created as fundraising events. The "private dinners" is a bit misleading, it's just one nice dinner for people making significant contributions. The build-space party *was* created as a fundraising event - sort of a "first to play with it" - keeping in mind that some donors can't make the event and would still like to see the installation.

I am glad this discussion is happening. My camp is doing a very big project this year..and we're going to have to turn to kickstarter for the first time. Well we did try it once in 2008 but it was like an abysmal failure..hopefully we will manage to be successful this year as we really need some funding to pull it all off.

I've been trying to figure out what is appropriate and what has been successful.

Things I have heard of successful kickstarters include: home-made art pieces, morning coffee delivery (srsly but it was from a coffee camp), special dinners (both exclusive and inclusive), medallions, time with artists, massage//healing services, art car trips, schwag of all types, first in line (for bars and things)..

I also feel weird about the idea of doing a 'private' event on the other hand.. it would be nice to do some sort of cocktail party for people that felt inspired to donate to the project on the playa..and have the artists there and blends the lines so to speak.. One thing that isnt 'exclusive' is to invite them to dinner with the whole camp..like come be a part of our community for the evening...that to me is 'special' but isn't cutting off other people from a public venue. For me the line seems to be around PUBLIC v. Private Space. Having a private dinner or semi private dinner for donor-participants in the camp private space is also different then making the public space exclusive.